The Influence of the Maintenance State of Track and Bogie Components on the Track-Vehicle Interaction and Loading

To improve the efficiency and the competitiveness of railway transport, the passenger and freight trains have to increase the pay-load and to travel faster, guaranteeing the necessary levels of running safety and ride comfort, while assuring low aggressiveness on track and minimising life cycle costs (LCC). Hence, the manufacturer's challenge is to increase the dynamic performance of the railway vehicles and, at the same time, to reduce the loads on the track through the optimization of the design, considering also that the characteristics of the vehicle and of the track are not unchanged in time and in space and that they depend on the maintenance strategy of the vehicle and infrastructure. This paper presents the track-vehicle interaction analysis, using multi-body systems (MBS) simulations and is focused on vehicle and track loads, with particular emphasis on the impact of the modified characteristics of the vehicle components and of the track geometry conditions in the vehicle-track interaction and track damage. The assessment criteria and evaluated quantities are defined according to the EN14363 regulation.